Universe too large: Ars reviews indie, PC Inside a Star-filled Sky

Ars looks at the newest game from indie game developer Jason Rohrer, Inside a …

It is entirely possible to take a very clever idea too far. Inside a Star-filled Sky, the latest release from indie game development auteur Jason Rohrer, the mind behind games like Passage and Sleep is Death, has this problem. Described as "an infinite, recursive, tactical shooter" by the creator, the game has you fighting your way through a colorfully pixelated landscape, forever ascending from one level to the next. You can enter creatures, you can enter objects, and you can even enter yourself. Imagine if the snow level from Inception just kept on going, and you'll have an idea of what's going on here.

Inception aside, it's probably easiest to describe Star-filled Sky as a sort of twin-stick shooter, only one you control with a keyboard and mouse. You navigate through mazes, fight enemies, and collect power-ups. Pretty standard stuff, at least on the surface. The first thing you're likely to notice is that the power-ups have no initial effect. Text will come up on screen telling you about abilities like larger bullets or bouncing shots, but your fire remains the same. And that's because the power-ups aren't for you. They're for the larger creature that you're inside.

"[That] is what you are inside. [This] is you."

Inside a Star-filled Sky

Imagine a never-ending chain of procedurally generated pixel creatures arranged like Russian nesting dolls. Each maze isn't so much a maze but rather the internal workings of a blocky creature, and you're not only trying to kill off enemies and collect items but also find the exit. When you get close to an arrow the screen will blur—already large pixels give way to even larger ones—and you'll take on the role of the creature you were previously inside. All of the power-ups you collected previously now go into effect. In a sense, each stage of the game is really about creating your future self.

If you happen to die, you'll go down a level, back inside the creature you were previously playing as. Confusing as it may sound, this actually allows for quite a bit of strategy. If you were having trouble on one level, going back down gives you the option of recreating your arsenal. Find those power-ups that will better suit your strategy. Make sure to collect plenty of health pieces so that you can withstand some fire. It's a very clever mechanic and if the game had ended there it would likely have been a much better experience.

"You can also enter yourself"

A few levels into the game, you'll gain another ability. Just in case the concept of constantly moving up from one creature to the next wasn't confusing enough, you'll also gain the ability to enter pretty much anything. If an enemy is giving you trouble, hold shift and hover your mouse over it and you'll enter its body. Just like with all of your previous selves, what you do inside the enemy effects how it will behave on the outside. Collect the worst power-ups and quickly leave and you'll be up against a much-less-challenging foe. It's particularly useful when you're having hard time getting past, say, an enemy tucked away in a corner firing bounce shots at you. But it also gets to be too much.

While inside of an enemy, you can also enter enemies inside of that enemy, and then enter enemies inside of that one. You can go down so far that you forget where you are and what you should be doing. You can also, for some reason, enter power-ups. Collecting power-ups inside of a power-up increases the abilities of the power-up that you're currently inside. And as the game eventually tells you, you can also enter yourself. Like going down a level, this gives you the ability to improve your abilities before heading back into the more difficult upper level.

Inside a Star-filled Sky is huge. It doesn't end. But it also doesn't have any goal to focus on, and the infinite layers of complexity render it almost cripplingly deep. Once you wrap your head around what is really happening in the game, which can take some time, the gimmick begins to wear off and you're left with a competent shooter with a clever customization mechanic.

With so many possibilities, this is a game that you'll want to love. It lets you explore and learn at your own pace—only occasionally providing instructions in the form of brief, cryptic snippets of text—and it offers so many opportunities to customize your experience. But Star-filled Sky ultimately suffers from being too big and too clever. You can play forever, but there's little incentive to do so, just like there's little reason to trek through the never-ending rabbit holes on the side. Once you figure it out, the fun is gone.

Inside a Star-filled Sky is a game that is full of satisfying revelations, but ultimately too few rewards.